Marijuana increases risk of death from hypertension

Marijuana use increased with a three-fold risk of death from hypertension finds new research. The lead study author Barbara Yankey who is a PhD student in the School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, US said that they researched that marijuana users had a greater than threefold risk of death from hypertension and the risk increased with each additional year of use.

The retrospective follow-up study of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants aged 20 years and above designed by the researchers. And the participants were asked if they had ever used marijuana in 2005-2006. The participants who answered “yes” were considered under the list of marijuana users. Whereas the participants who reported the age when they first tried marijuana was subtracted from their current age to calculate the duration of use.

The National Centre for Health Statistics information on marijuana use was merged with mortality data in 2011. As per the findings that published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology among a total of 1,213 participants, marijuana users had a higher risk of dying from hypertension. As compared to non-users who had 3.42 times higher risk of death from hypertension. Yankey said this is not surprising since marijuana is known to have a number of effects on the cardiovascular system.

Marijuana stimulates the sympathetic nervous system that led to increases in heart rate blood pressure and oxygen demand. Yankey pointed out the emergency rooms that have reported cases of angina and heart attacks after marijuana use. The researchers said that the cardiovascular risk associated with marijuana use may be greater than the cardiovascular risk already established for cigarette smoking. They also found that the higher estimated cardiovascular risks associated with a use of marijuana than the cigarette smoking.